Parade Says ‘Thank You’ to Vietnam War Veterans

While thousands massed to march in the “Thank You” Veterans Parade in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, a Vietnam veteran knelt in Pershing Square, touched one of the 58,022 names on the replica of Washington’s memorial wall and cried for four dead friends.

“We all grew up together,” he said, fighting back the tears. “Five went into the Marine Corps and to Vietnam--and one came back.”

Although it has been many years since he fought at Khe Sahn, the Van Nuys resident still did not want his name or his Nebraska hometown mentioned because he is in therapy and some of his friends do not know about his background.

‘Glad They’re Doing It’

“I’m glad they’re doing it,” the former Marine said of the parade. “But, it’s awfully late. I’m angry. Very, very angry. I’m not angry at anybody in particular, maybe Lyndon Johnson. I guess it’s their age when they died. Such a waste.

“I think the war was for nothing. It was all a big waste.”

Saturday was a day of remembering for about 10,000 other veterans of the nation’s wars--from World War I to Vietnam--who marched in the parade and an estimated 100,000 to 125,000 spectators who lined the parade route along Broadway from 8th to Temple streets.

It was Los Angeles’ version of massive veterans parades held in 1985 and 1986 in Chicago and New York City. And like the others, city planners saw it as a way of “airing out” feelings about the Vietnam War shared by veterans and non-veterans alike.

Starting with the intricate maneuvers of the Police Department’s motorcycle drill team, the parade rolled down Broadway with Mayor Tom Bradley riding in a vintage white Chrysler Imperial. Then came former Vietnam commander Gen. William Westmoreland, special honoree; Rear Admiral Richard Gentz, parade chairman, and Bobby Wieland, Vietnam veteran and special honoree, followed by U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), Supervisor Mike Antonovich and other officials.

Bands played and spectators cheered as overhead military planes and Vietnam-era Huey helicopters traced the parade route, flying briefly over the reviewing stand between 1st and Temple streets. From 250 to 300 elements--including high school and military bands, military equipment, marching Marines and veteran’s organizations--covered the route in about than three hours.

Weeklong Activities

In many ways, the parade, part of the activities of “Thank You” Veterans Week that end today, was everything a spectator might have expected, but there also seemed to be a difference.

With the exception of the color guards and the active units marching with military precision, the uniform of the day was olive drab or camouflaged fatigue outfits, caps and jackets dotted with medals and insignia of military units, and bits and pieces of military wear worn with civilian clothes.

Herman (Woody) Woods, who said he fought with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam, wore a complete fatigue outfit--and two artificial legs--as he walked along the parade route, assisted only by a cane.

Woods, an honorary member of a state Vietnam Veterans Commission, lost both legs in a Claymore mine blast in 1970 near the Cambodian border. When he returned to the United States, the former sergeant spent months in a military hospital in the Bay Area.

“I was pretty disillusioned,” he said. “We had a lot of Berkeley hippies who came into Letterman Hospital once and spit on us.”

But he said that feeling is past and that he is elated that major cities are honoring veterans.

‘Healing Process’

“It’s a good healing process for all the vets,” he said.

Gil Caruso, 57, of Newport Beach and his two grandsons, Erik Caruso, 12, and Tristan Caruso, 9, arrived early and sat on the curb near the reviewing stand. Caruso said they were there “to pay homage and tribute” to veterans, like one particular marcher, Kevin Caruso, his son and the boys’ father. Kevin Caruso was wounded in Vietnam and came home bitter and demoralized to an America that wanted to forget about the war, the elder Caruso said.